Case Report | DOI: https://doi.org/.
Independent Researcher. Alumnus, College of Medicine University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Correspondng Author: Seun Ayoade
Citation: Seun Ayoade, (2023). To vape or not to vape? A call for governments worldwide to abolish paper cigarettes.International Journal of Pulmonology and Disorders.1(1).
Copyright: © 2023, Seun Ayoade, this is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received Date: 2022-12-03, Received Date: 2022-12-03, Published Date: 2023-01-03
Abstract Keywords:
Abstract
Introduction
Imagine if you travelled to a far-off country. On the main highway you see horse drawn carriages, chariots and stagecoaches jostling for space with sleek Mercedes Benzes, BMWs and Toyotas. You would be very amazed. Then you would start trying to find answers for this anomaly. Perhaps you would inquire whether there was a law limiting the number of motor cars on the street. If you found out that there was no such law you might think those using horses were poor. Imagine if you asked a citizen of this country: “How much does a new motor car cost?” Imagine if he answered “50,000 Credits”. Then imagine if you asked him “how much is a new horse drawn chariot?” and he answered “50,000 Credits”. You would probably scratch your head and wonder why some opted to go by horse and others by the internal combustion engine. Imagine if you entered an electronics store in this same country and saw three TVs for sale. One is a 24 inched black and white with no remote control. The second is a colour TV, also 24 inches, with a remote control but is very bulky because it uses a cathode ray tube. The third TV is an LED flat screen modern TV with a remote. Now, imagine if you asked the store manager how much the black and white TV was and he answered “400 credits”. “Okay how much is the cathode ray colour TV?” you ask and he replies “400 credits-the same as the monochrome analogue”. Imagine you asked for the price of the LED TV and he replied “400 Credits too. They are all 400 credits!” Many a psychologist and psychiatrist would like to examine the citizens of this country. As outlandish as this story sounds something similar is happening in our world right now. Walk into any store and you will see tobacco-in-paper rolled cigarettes being sold side by side with electronic cigarettes! The electronic cigarette was invented in the 1960s and should have displaced the traditional cancer-causing paper cigarettes. Why this has not happened boggles the brain. Electronic cigarettes are much safer than traditional cigarettes. They deliver nicotine to the smoker without the combustion of tobacco leaves and tar etc. Nicotine is what makes smokers enjoy smoking and is relatively harmless. What makes smoking regular cigarettes so dangerous is the tar and other things BURNT when a cigarette is lit. E cigarettes involve no burning. A liquid containing nicotine is converted to vapour-hence the term vaping. Most unbiased and independent studies and experiments have shown that if E cigarettes have any dangers at all, they are way below those of traditional paper smoking.
I hereby call on all responsible governments of the world to abolish and criminalize [via legislation] the manufacture, distribution, marketing and sale of traditional paper cigarettes. Cigarette manufacturing companies who refuse to switch over to vape manufacture should be shut down. They no longer have any excuse to poison and kill our youths and adults.
The advantages of vaping/Electronic cigarettes over paper cigarettes are legion:
“Research so far shows that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking. There is no good evidence that vaping causes cancer”- Cancer Research, UK.
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